6 October 2020
Memorial of St. Bruno, Priest
“… they only kept hearing that ‘the one who once was persecuting us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.’ So they glorified God because of me.”
This man who had so opposed Christianity, now becomes a confirming sign of God’s work in Christ. Paul sees the care of God that made this transformation possible as beginning not when he started to preach, not when he was first converted, but from the time when he was only a child still in his mother’s womb. (Gal 1:15) If we begin to give too much weight to the demands of our daily life and not the purpose of our daily life, then (like the Galatians) we may start to lose sight of Christ whom St. Paul sees so clearly. In our midst, giving meaning to all that we do, giving us the strength to carry out all that is needed, there is Christ, who is to be adored and glorified. Indeed, the more we pay attention to Christ, the more we will accomplish what is essential for our good and God’s greater glory. In today’s Gospel, it is Mary Magdalene, who is simply sitting at Jesus feet, listening to his words, it is she who will become the apostle to the apostles after Jesus’ resurrection. Christ to whom she listened, by whose words her spiritual life was watered and grew and flourished, is the Christ who then, through her, cares for the disciples so shaken by the Passion.
In the Church, when we get more and more occupied with what has Martha so out of sorts, we need Mary’s who are at the feet of the Lord to reorient us by their own attentive gaze. Perhaps it was for this reason that God raised up St. Bruno in the eleventh century. After ordination at age 25, followed by 25 years of seminary teaching and diocesan administration, the humble German priest sought to live life as a hermit and founded the first house of Carthusians in Chartreuse, France. To this day the Carthusians (who have a special spiritual bond with the Society of Jesus) remain faithful the hermit life which St. Bruno established close to 900 years ago. Throughout the world, including the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration in Vermont, the sons of St. Bruno continue to pour out their lives, sitting at the feet of Christ. They aid us by their prayers, and by their way of life help to turn our gaze to the Lord whose loving gaze never turns from us. By the intercession of St. Bruno, may our reliance on the Lord help others come to see that gaze more and more clearly.